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National Association of Realtors tries to present FHA myths as ‘facts’

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is at it again. Not being satisfied with the FHA’s decades-long lending nightmare that resulted in an estimated 3.2 million dashed homeowner dreams since 1975, it is launching a new ad campaign entitled “FHA Facts”. Their “facts” are cold comfort to the half million working-class families getting loans from the FHA since 2008 who will lose their homes to foreclosure. These families will lose a sizable portion of their savings and see their credit ruined because the FHA set them up to fail.

The housing lobby says that “now” is a bad time for reform. They’ve said that for over 60 years. American families who face the crushing fact of foreclosure can’t afford to wait for the housing lobby to embrace common-sense changes to restore FHA’s vital mission of providing responsible credit to working class families and first-time home buyers.

Presents the following myths as:

No matter how hard the NAR tries to change the facts, this is not your great-grandmother’s FHA.

Fact: FHA’s so called safe lending since 2008 will result in a half million foreclosures (source: HUD documents).

Discussion: (4 comments)

Why does a feee market need an FHA to begin with? If there is demand for something and it makes sense the market will provide it much more effectively than a government program. And if there isn’t the government should not have programs promoting it.

Because the government also heavily intercedes in the “private” lending market through capital controls. When they make these loans 10-100x less capital efficient to create, none of the tranditional sources of consumer credit will touch it over other alternatives.

Ed’s facts are from an exhaustive study of hard data. It clearly demonstrates excessive FHA failure rates (wealth and neighborhood destruction) concentrated on working class families. That’s what’s on the AEI website. Glad to discuss facts but obtuse criticism of where the research posted is the opposite of a meaningful, fact-based discussion.